so how long can a robin go

Freds · Mar 22, 2006

without eating?
I'm assuming that robins are strictly carnivorous because I never see them by the feeder. Does anyone know off hand? They have been back here in my neck of the woods for three weeks. That's three weeks of frozen ground and I haven't seen a bug since last.... actually it may have been January, but they have since disappeared now that spring has sprung right back into winter.
I have been seeing more and more robins combing my yard and in my driveway cocking their heads trying to find something to eat, but I never see one have any luck.

Bird · Mar 22, 2006

Freds, I think you'll find that Robins eat a variety of fruits and berries as well as grubs, worms, and such.

scott_vt · Mar 22, 2006

Hi Fred,
Im trying to think back the last time I ever saw a skinny robin /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

midlf · Mar 22, 2006

With the feathers I don't know if you could tell if they were skinny or not. The feathers hide a lot.

Jimbrown · Mar 22, 2006

Robins like most birds willeat almost anything edible when hungry. You might like to see this: web page

Freds · Mar 22, 2006

There are some rotten apples I know of in my back field, maybe they are snacking on those....
I just think it's odd I never see them around the feeder (seed) since their natural food has to be scarce, if it's available at all.

Maybe I'll go "ding" one and have a look in its crop. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Just kidding, just kidding....

MossRoad · Mar 22, 2006

I know for a fact that Robbins love fruit, like cherries. I've seen many a Robbin teaching its babies how to pick cherries off of my trees. It is a good thing Robbins don't have much meat on them and are protected, as I like the taste of birds basted in cherry juice. I figure the Robbin would be basted from the inside out in my yard with all of the cherries they've eaten off of my trees! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bird · Mar 22, 2006

I don't know how true it is, David, but I read long ago that the Robin was one of the first birds to be protected by law because they were so popular as food, and easy to kill, that the pioneers nearly wiped them out. So I would assume they're good eating. I'm not sure why we have just a few some years and many of them other years. When I bought the place in the country, I took possession on December 30, 1994, and one day within a week, I counted 54 Robins in the front yard at one time. I never saw a flock that big again. But when I was a kid, we shot every Mockingbird and Blue Jay we could because they would just destroy a fruit crop.

Jimbrown · Mar 22, 2006

Ahhhh now Bird you surly do not want to admit that you killed the Texas state bird. I was always told when I was a kid that if I killed one my whole family would be fined some horrible amount and be banned from Texas forever. I sure hate it when they eat my tomatos.